TheDidache (/ˈdɪdəkeɪ,-ki/; Ancient Greek:Διδαχή,romanized: Didakhé,lit. 'Teaching'),[1] also known asThe Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν,Didachḕ Kyríou dià tō̂n dṓdeka apostólōn toîs éthnesin), is a brief anonymousearly Christiantreatise (ancient church order) written inKoine Greek, dated by modern scholars to thefirst[2] or (less commonly)second century AD.[3]
The first line of this treatise is: "The teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the twelve apostles".[a] The text, parts of which constitute the oldest extant writtencatechism, has three main sections dealing withChristian ethics, rituals such asbaptism andEucharist, and Church organization. The opening chapters describe the virtuous Way of Life and the wicked Way of Death. TheLord's Prayer is included in full. Baptism is by immersion, or byaffusion if immersion is not practical. Fasting is ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays. Two primitive Eucharistic prayers are given. Church organization was at an early stage of development. Itinerant apostles and prophets are important, serving as "chief priests" and possibly celebrating the Eucharist; meanwhile, local bishops anddeacons also have authority and seem to be taking the place of the itinerant ministry.[2]
TheDidache is considered the first example of the genre ofChurch Orders.[2] It reveals howJewish Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their practice forGentile Christians.[4] It is similar in several ways to theGospel of Matthew, perhaps because both texts originated in similar communities.[5] The opening chapters, which also appear in other early Christian texts like theEpistle of Barnabas, are likely derived from an earlier Jewish source.[2]
TheDidache is considered a product of the group of second-generation Christian writers known as theApostolic Fathers. The work was considered by someChurch Fathers to be a part of theNew Testament,[b] while being rejected by others asspurious ornon-canonical.[6][7] In the end, it was not accepted into theNew Testament canon. However, works which draw directly or indirectly from theDidache include theDidascalia Apostolorum, theApostolic Constitutions and theEthiopic Didascalia, the latter of which is included inthe broader canon of theEthiopian Orthodox Church.
Lost for centuries, aGreek manuscript of theDidache was rediscovered in 1873 byPhilotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in theCodex Hierosolymitanus, a compilation of texts of theApostolic Fathers found in the Jerusalem Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulchre inConstantinople. ALatin version of the first five chapters was discovered in 1900 by J. Schlecht.[8]
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Many English and American scholars once dated the text to the early second century,[2] a view still held by some today,[9] but most scholars now assign theDidache to the first century.[10][11] The document is a composite work, and the discovery of theCommunity Rule among theDead Sea Scrolls, has provided evidence of development over a considerable period, beginning as a Jewishcatechetical work which was then developed into a church manual.[12]
Twouncial fragments containing Greek text of theDidache (verses 1:3c–4a; 2:7–3:2) were found among theOxyrhynchus Papyri (no. 1782) and are now in the collection of theBodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library in Oxford.[13][14][15] Apart from these fragments, the Greek text of theDidache has only survived in a single, 11th-century Greek manuscript, theCodex Hierosolymitanus.
Dating the document is thus made difficult both by the lack of hard evidence and its composite character. TheDidache may have been compiled in its present form as late as 150, although a date closer to the end of the first century seems more probable to many.[16]
The teaching is an anonymous pastoral manual which Aaron Milavec states "reveals more about howJewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism forgentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures".[4] The Two Ways section is likely based on an earlier Jewish source.[2] The community that produced theDidache could have been based in Syria, as it addressed the gentiles but from a Judaic perspective, at some remove from Jerusalem, and shows no evidence of Pauline influence.[2][17] Alan Garrow claims that its earliest layer may have originated in the decree issued by theCouncil of Jerusalem in 49–50, that is, by the Jerusalem assembly underJames, brother of Jesus.[18]
The text was lost, but scholars knew of it through the writing of later church fathers, some of whom had drawn heavily on it.[19] In 1873 in Constantinople (now Istanbul), metropolitanPhilotheos Bryennios found a Greek copy of theDidache, written in 1056, and he published it in 1883.[19] Hitchcock and Brown produced the first English translation in March 1884.Adolf von Harnack produced the first German translation in 1884, andPaul Sabatier produced the first French translation and commentary in 1885.[20]
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TheDidache is mentioned byEusebius (c. 324) as the Teachings of the Apostles along with other books he considerednon-canonical:[21]
Let there be placed among the spurious works theActs of Paul, the so-calledShepherd and theApocalypse of Peter, and besides these theEpistle of Barnabas, and what are called the Teachings of the Apostles, and also theApocalypse of John, if this be thought proper; for as I wrote before, some reject it, and others place it in the canon.
Athanasius of Alexandria (367) andTyrannius Rufinus (c. 380) list theDidache among apocrypha. Rufinus gives the curious alternative titleJudicium Petri "Judgment of Peter." It is rejected byNikephoros I of Constantinople (c. 810), pseudo-Anastasius,[who?] and theSynopsis of Holy Scripture and theCatalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books. It is accepted by theApostolic Constitutions, Canon 85,John of Damascus, and inOrthodox Tewahedo churches. TheAdversus Aleatores by an imitator ofCyprian quotes it by name. Unacknowledged citations are widespread, if less certain. The sectionTwo Ways shares the same language with theEpistle of Barnabas, chapters 18–20, sometimes word for word, added to, dislocated, or abridged, andBarnabas iv, 9 either derives fromDidache, 16, 2–3, or vice versa. There can also be seen many similarities to the Epistles of bothPolycarp andIgnatius of Antioch.The Shepherd of Hermas seems to reflect it, andIrenaeus,Clement of Alexandria,[c] andOrigen also seem to use the work, and so in the West doOptatus and the "Gesta apud Zenophilum".[d] TheDidascalia Apostolorum are founded upon theDidache. TheApostolic Church-Ordinance used a part and theApostolic Constitutions embody theDidascalia. There are echoes inJustin Martyr,Tatian,Theophilus of Antioch,Cyprian, andLactantius.
TheDidache is a relatively short text with only some 2,300 words. The contents may be divided into four parts, which most scholars agree were combined from separate sources by a laterredactor: the first is theTwo Ways, the Way of Life and the Way of Death (chapters 1–6); the second part is a ritual dealing with baptism,fasting, andCommunion (chapters 7–10); the third speaks of the ministry and how to treat apostles, prophets, bishops, and deacons (chapters 11–15); and the final section (chapter 16) is a prophecy of the Antichrist and the Second Coming.[2]
The manuscript is commonly referred to as theDidache. This is short for the header found on the document and the title used by the Church Fathers, "The Lord's Teaching of the Twelve Apostles".[e] A fuller title or subtitle is also found next in the manuscript, "The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles[f] by the Twelve Apostles".[g]
Willy Rordorf considered the first five chapters as "essentially Jewish, but the Christian community was able to use it" by adding the "evangelical section".[25] The title 'Lord' in theDidache is reserved usually for "Lord God", while Jesus is called "the servant" of theFather (9:2f.; 10:2f.).[26]Baptism was practiced "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."[27] Scholars generally agree that 9:5, which speaks of baptism "in the name of the Lord", represents an earlier tradition that was gradually replaced by atrinity of names."[28] A similarity withActs 3 is noted by Aaron Milavec: both see Jesus as "the servant (pais)[29][h] of God".[30] The community is presented as "awaiting thekingdom from the Father as entirely afuture event".[30]
The first section (Chapters 1–6) begins: "There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways."[31]
Apostolic Fathers (1992) notes:
The Two Ways material appears to have been intended, in light of 7.1, as a summary of basic instruction about the Christian life to be taught to those who were preparing for baptism and church membership. In its present form it represents theChristianization of a common Jewish form of moral instruction. Similar material is found in a number of other Christian writings from the first through about the fifth centuries, including theEpistle of Barnabas, theDidascalia, theApostolic Church Ordinances, theSummary of Doctrine, theApostolic Constitutions, theLife of Schnudi, andOn the Teaching of the Apostles (or Doctrina), some of which are dependent on theDidache. The interrelationships between these various documents, however, are quite complex and much remains to be worked out.
— Apostolic Fathers, 2nd ed., Lightfoot-Harmer-Holmes, 1992
The closest parallels in the use of the Two Ways doctrine are found among theEssene Jews at theDead Sea Scrolls community. The Qumran community included a Two Ways teaching in its founding charter,The Community Rule.
Throughout the Two Ways there are manyOld Testament quotes shared with theGospels, and many theological similarities, butJesus is never mentioned by name. The first chapter opens with theShema ("you shall love God"), theGreat Commandment ("your neighbor as yourself"), and theGolden Rule in the negative form. Then come short extracts in common with theSermon on the Mount, together with a curious passage on giving and receiving, which is also cited with variations inShepherd of Hermas (Mand., ii, 4–6). The Latin omits 1:3–6 and 2:1, and these sections have no parallel inEpistle of Barnabas; therefore, they may be a later addition, suggesting Hermas and the present text of theDidache may have used a common source, or one may have relied on the other. Chapter 2 contains the commandments againstmurder,adultery,corrupting boys,sexual promiscuity,theft,magic,sorcery,abortion,infanticide, coveting,perjury, false testimony, speaking evil, holding grudges, being double-minded, not acting as one speaks,greed,avarice,hypocrisy, maliciousness,arrogance, plotting evil against neighbors,hate,narcissism and expansions on these generally, with references to thewords of Jesus. Chapter 3 attempts to explain how one vice leads to another: anger to murder,concupiscence to adultery, and so forth. The whole chapter is excluded in Barnabas. A number of precepts are added in chapter 4, which ends: "This is the Way of Life." Verse 13 states that one must not forsake theLord's commandments, neither adding nor subtracting (see also Deuteronomy 4:2,[32] 12:32).[33] The Way of Death (chapter 5) is a list of vices to be avoided. Chapter 6 exhorts to the keeping in the Way of this Teaching:
See that no one causes you to err from this way of the teaching, since apart from God it teaches you. For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able to do this, do what you are able. And concerning food, bear what you are able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly careful; for it is the service of dead gods.
TheDidache, like1 Corinthians 10:21, does not give an absolute prohibition on eating meat which has been offered to idols, but merely advises being careful.[34] Comparable to theDidache is the "let him eat herbs" ofPaul of Tarsus as ahyperbolical expression like1 Corinthians 8:13 "I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother", thus giving no support to the notion ofvegetarianism in theEarly Church.John Chapman in theCatholic Encyclopedia (1908) states that theDidache is referring toJewish meats.[8] The Latin version substitutes for chapter 6 a similar close, omitting all reference to meats and toidolothyta, and concluding with"per Domini nostri Jesu Christi [...] in saecula saeculorum, amen" ('by our lord Jesus Christ [...] for ever and ever, amen'). This is the end of the translation. This suggests the translator lived at a day when idolatry had disappeared, and when the remainder of theDidache was out of date. There would be no other such reason for omitting chapter 1, 3–6, so these chapters were presumably not in the copy used by the translator.[8]
Vice lists, which are common appearances in Paul's epistles, were relatively unusual within ancient Judaism of the Old Testament times. Within the Gospels, Jesus' structure of teaching theBeatitudes is often dependent upon the Law and the Prophets. At times, however, Jesus expressed such vice lists, such as in Mark 7:20–23.[35] Paul's vice and virtue lists could bear more influence from theHellenistic-Jewish influences ofPhilo (20 BC–50 AD) and other writers of the intertestamental period.[36]
The way of death and the "grave sin", which are forbidden, is reminiscent of the various "vice lists" found in the Pauline Epistles, which warn against engaging in certain behaviours if one wants to enter the Kingdom of God. Contrasting what Paul wrote in1 Corinthians 6:9–10,Galatians 5:19–21, and what was written in1 Timothy 1:9–11[i] withDidache 2 displays a certain commonality with one another, almost with the same warnings and words, except for one line: "thou shalt not corrupt boys". Whereas Paul uses the compound wordarsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται), ahapax legomenon literally meaning 'male-bedder', based on the Greek words for 'male' and 'lie with' found in the Septuagint translation of Leviticus 18:22,[37] theDidache uses a word translated as 'child corrupter' (παιδοφθορήσεις,paidophthorēseis) which is likewise used in theEpistle of Barnabas.
The second part (chapters 7 to 10) begins with an instruction onbaptism, the sacramental rite that admits someone into the Christian Church.[38] Baptism is to be conferred "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"[27] with triple immersion in "living water" (that is, flowing water, probably in a stream).[39] If this is not practical, baptism in cold or even warm water is acceptable. If the water is insufficient for immersion, it may be poured three times on the head (affusion). The baptized and the baptizer, and, if possible, anyone else attending the ritual should fast for one or two days beforehand.
The New Testament is rich in metaphors for baptism but offers few details about the practice itself, not even whether the candidates professed their faith in a formula.[40] TheDidache is the oldest extra-biblical source for information about baptism, but it, too lacks these details.[40] The Two Ways section of theDidache is presumably the sort of ethical instruction that catechumens (students) received in preparation for baptism.[40]
Chapter 8 suggests that fasts are not to be on the second day and on the fifth day "with the hypocrites", but on the fourth day and on the preparation day. Fasting Wednesday and Friday plus worshiping on the Lord's day constituted the Christian week.[41] Nor must Christians pray with their Judaic brethren; instead they shall say theLord's Prayer three times a day. The text of the prayer is not identical to the version in theGospel of Matthew, and it is given with thedoxology "for Yours is the power and the glory forever." This doxology derives from 1 Chronicles 29:11–13;Bruce M. Metzger held that the early church added it to the Lord's Prayer, creating the current Matthew reading.[42]
TheDidache provides one of the few clues historians have in reconstructing the daily prayer practice among Christians before the 300s.[43] It instructs Christians to pray the "Our Father" three times a day but does not specify times to pray.[43] Recalling the version of Matthew 6:9–13,[44] it affirms "you must not pray like the hypocrites, but you should pray as follows."[45] Other early sources speak of two-fold, three-fold, and five-fold daily prayers.[43]
TheDidache includes two primitive and unusual prayers for theEucharist ("thanksgiving"),[2] which is the central act of Christian worship.[46] It is the earliest text to refer to this rite as the Eucharist.[46]
Chapter 9 begins:
Now concerning the Eucharist, give thanks this way. First, concerning the cup:
We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever...
And concerning the broken bread:
We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.
But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs."
TheDidache basically describes the same ritual as the one that took place in Corinth.[47] As with Paul'sFirst Letter to the Corinthians, theDidache confirms that the Lord's supper was literally a meal, probably taking place in a "house church".[48] The order of cup and bread differs both from present-day Christian practice and from that in the New Testament accounts of theLast Supper,[49] of which, again unlike almost all present-day Eucharistic celebrations, theDidache makes no mention.[48]
Chapter 10 gives a thanksgiving after a meal. The contents of the meal are not indicated: chapter 9 does not exclude other elements as well that the cup and bread, which are the only ones it mentions, and chapter 10, whether it was originally a separate document or continues immediately the account in chapter 9, mentions no particular elements, not even wine and bread. Instead it speaks of the "spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant" that it distinguishes from the "food and drink (given) to men for enjoyment that they might give thanks to (God)". After adoxology, as before, come the apocalyptic exclamations: "Let grace come, and let this world pass away.Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent.Maranatha. Amen".[50] The prayer is reminiscent of Revelation 22:17–20[51] and1 Corinthians 16:22.
John Dominic Crossan endorsesJohn W. Riggs' proposal in a 1984The Second Century article that "there are two quite separate eucharistic celebrations given inDidache 9–10, with the earlier one now put in second place".[52] The section beginning at 10.1 is a reworking of the Jewishbirkat ha-mazon, a three-strophe prayer at the conclusion of a meal, which includes a blessing of God for sustaining the universe, a blessing of God who gives the gifts of food, earth, andcovenant, and aprayer for the restoration of Jerusalem; the content is "Christianized", but the form remains Jewish.[53] It is similar to the Syrian Church eucharist rite of theHoly Qurbana of Addai and Mari, belonging to "a primordial era when the euchology of the Church had not yet inserted the Institution Narrative in the text of the Eucharistic Prayer".[54]
The church organization reflected in theDidache seems to be underdeveloped.[2] Itinerant apostles and prophets are of great importance, serving as "chief priests" and possibly celebrating the Eucharist. Development through the ages indicates that titles changed without understanding of the workings of the various roles by later editors in the belief that the roles were interchangeable – indicating that prophetic knowledge was not operating actively during a season of "closed vision" (as in the time of Samuel), modernised titles not indicating prophetic knowledge.[2] The text offers guidelines on how to differentiate a genuine prophet that deserves support from a false prophet who seeks to exploit the community's generosity. For example, a prophet who fails to act as he preaches is a false prophet (11:10). The local leadership consists of bishops and deacons, and they seem to be taking the place of the itinerant ministry.[2] Christians are enjoined to gather on Sunday to break bread, but to confess their sins first as well as reconcile themselves with others if they have grievances (Chapter 14).
Significant similarities between theDidache and theGospel of Matthew have been found[5] as these writings share words, phrases, and motifs. This close relationship between these two writings might suggest that both documents were created in the same historical and geographical setting.
One argument that suggests a common environment is that the community of both theDidache and the gospel of Matthew was probably composed ofJewish Christians from the beginning.[5]
The Two Ways teaching (Didache 1–6) may also have served as a pre-baptismal instruction within the community of theDidache and Matthew. Furthermore, the correspondence of the Trinitarian baptismal formula in theDidache and Matthew (Didache 7 and Matthew 28:19) as well as the similar shape of the Lord's Prayer (Didache 8 and Matthew 6:5–13) appear to reflect the use of similar oral traditions. Finally, both the community of theDidache (Didache 11–13) and Matthew (Matthew 7:15–23; 10:5–15, 40–42; 24:11,24) were visited by itinerant apostles and prophets, some of whom were heterodox.[5]
The relationship between the two documents continues to be debated with vigor.[j]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Didache".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
The Didache public domain audiobook atLibriVox
